at the intersection of business, parenthood, and music

This past year has been one of my most challenging personally, and I am so thankful for many things including my friends, family, my kids, my kid’s teachers, and the fact that I managed not to jump off the Entrepreneurial Ledge. 🙂 [Check out Fred Wilson’s post: Thanks for the Entrepreneurs. I’m thankful for them too since they are the main motivation for me to go to work everyday…other than my neat co-workers!] There were times that some people certainly pushed me to the limit (some intentionally and others unintentionally) but somehow by the grace of God, I kept it mostly together and didn’t completely fall apart. I’m not out of the woods yet, but I have started to see some light in the green and inviting clearing ahead.

I wonder if there is a handsome man on a white horse waiting to understand me, connect with me, make me laugh, and take me away to an easier life waiting in that clearing. But that sort of stuff just happens in fairy tales like Tangled (based on Rapunzel), which the kids, their cousins, my cousin and I saw over the break. It was a great movie, but I left wondering why we perpetuate this ‘night in shining armor’ fairly tales to our kids when no one falls in love in 3 days and princesses (women) don’t get rescued from evil parents/mothers by handsome thieves who turn good to get the girl. Everyone always lives “happily ever after” in these fairy tales, and they leave out the part where Rapunzel will eventually need loads of therapy to get over the fact some evil old lady kidnapped her, used her for her powers, locked her up in a tower for 17 years, and pretended to be her mother. During that time she also made her feel not worthy to live her own life and made her doubt her survival skills. Talk about ‘trust issues!’ Prince Charming (a.k.a. Robin Hood type) won’t know what hit him after their kids are born. 🙂

Anyway, I digress. I really enjoyed this Thanksgiving as I had time with family, and the kids and I were able to just be and relax. We ate a wonderful tasting brined turkey with mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, and sweet potatoes. We also had three fabulous pies and my favorite was the berry/strawberry/raspberry one. Yummy! I was in charge of the sweet potatoes and they turned out fairly well…especially with the marshmallows on top. Oh and a family tradition is crab curry. It was delicious and very meaty for crab! We even did (first time ever) the classic singing of Christmas music around the piano and the kids were fascinated to see the grownups behave so musically. I think it surprised them. My son even played us some songs on the piano he had learned. All in all, the trip was short, the conversation enlightening, the feeling peaceful which made it a wonderful Thanksgiving trip. It made me wish I lived closer to my family.

I hope all of you out there had a nice Thanksgiving and that you had an opportunity to think about all the things you have to be thankful for…not just during this time of year but always!